There Goes My Heart (The Sullivans #20) - Bella Andre Page 0,12
good to go?”
“Only one thing left I can think of.”
“What’s that?”
“Let’s have a damn good time.”
He couldn’t see her smile, but he knew it would be just the right side of wicked as she turned off Metallica on his car stereo without asking, then found a pop station and cranked a boy band to ear-splitting levels. “The best time ever.”
CHAPTER SIX
Zara didn’t care for her pounding heart and her sweating palms as they stood at the entrance to the country club where the newly engaged couple were having their party.
She’d had a year to get over Brittany and Cameron’s relationship. Then again, now that the couple was going to make it a forever thing, Zara was in for a lifetime of family gatherings where everyone would expect her to take one for the “true love” team.
She couldn’t wait.
Not.
Zara was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize Rory had reached for her hand until he had it in his grasp. “I haven’t felt a palm this damp since my first middle-school dance,” he noted.
His comment had the desired effect, spurring her to give the romantic performance of a lifetime. Head held high, she walked into the building hand in hand with Rory.
She wasn’t surprised when every head turned to take in their procession. And not simply because everyone had surely been waiting for her arrival in the hopes that sparks would fly between stepsisters—but because Rory Sullivan was a truly magnificent-looking man.
Where previously it would have galled Zara to admit just how handsome he was, tonight she wanted to give a fist bump at the way everyone was swooning over him from the barest glance.
Knowing they were all watching, she leaned in to whisper in his ear, “I’m thinking some next-level touching would be good here, if it’s okay with you.”
“Definitely okay.” He put his arm around her waist and pulled her in close.
Wow. If she’d thought holding hands with Rory was a shock to her system, it had nothing on being held in his arms.
This close, she could no longer deny his impressive strength. His delicious scent. And the fact that he exuded sex appeal from the top of his head, to the tips of his toes.
Amazingly, though, the sensations coursing through her were about more than attraction or pheromones. For the first time in a very long time, she felt safe.
Like nothing could hurt her ever again as long as Rory was by her side.
When she turned her gaze to his and realized how he was looking at her, she had to wonder if he could feel it too.
Zara’s stepsister and her ex were both forgotten as she silently scrambled to corral her crazy feelings. But it felt like she was attempting to herd wild mustang horses back into their pen after finally giving them a heady taste of roaming wild and free.
An impossible task, if ever there was one.
“Well, hello there.”
Brittany’s purr broke Zara out of her careening thoughts. She’d been dreading the moment when she came face-to-face with her stepsister at her engagement party. Now, however, she was thrilled that Brittany had broken the spell Rory was casting over her, regardless of how awkward this conversation was bound to be.
Her stepsister enveloped her in an expensively perfumed embrace, during which Rory continued to hold tight to Zara’s waist, proving it was going to take far more than this to shake him free.
“I’m so glad you could come on such short notice, Z.” Brittany let Zara go, then offered her hand to Rory. “It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Brittany, and this is Cameron.” She nodded toward Zara’s ex, who was standing at Brittany’s side, looking more than a little gobsmacked by Zara’s date.
“I’m Rory Sullivan.” He gave Brittany’s hand a firm shake and then did the same with Cameron.
Zara had to stifle a smile at the slight wince on Cameron’s part when he took his hand back. Her ex’s handshake had always been a little soft. Whereas there was nothing soft about any part of Rory, especially his big woodworking hands.
“I’m glad to finally meet you both,” Rory said. “I had hoped to meet you at Zara’s last product launch, but better late than never.”
He let the subtle rebuke dangle in the air as he turned to gently stroke the back of his hand across Zara’s cheek. She allowed an instinctive shiver at his touch, figuring it would help make their ruse look completely above board.